HISD still $7 million short on funds for Apollo reform program

HISD still $7 million short on Apollo fundsImprovement program also losing 2 administrators

ERICKA MELLON, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published 5:30 am, Friday, June 10, 2011

The Houston school district remains more than $7 million short of its fund-raising goal for its Apollo reform effort, while two of the program's administrators are leaving after a year on the job.

Jeremy Beard, who supervised the campuses in the improvement program last school year, is resigning to work for a new nonprofit that is contracting with the Houston Independent School District on the project for up to $2.2 million over three years.

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The Apollo program, which will expand to 20 schools this summer, is estimated to cost $67 million through 2014, according to documents released to the Houston Chronicle upon request this week.

Most of the program — which includes daily math tutoring for students in certain grades and longer hours - will be federally funded, thanks in part to a grant set up to help struggling schools and money targeted for low-income children.

In the budget, Melinda Garrett, HISD's chief financial officer, projects that the district will spend $11 million in local tax dollars and raise $20 million in donations.

"We've still got grant proposals out. We fully expect to raise every bit of this money," Garrett said.

The district and the HISD Foundation, which raises money on its behalf, have brought in $12.5 million since starting Apollo last year.

The cost, Garrett explained, includes an estimated $2.2 million for Blueprint Schools Network, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that is consulting with HISD and researching the effectiveness of the Apollo reforms.

Beard told HISD officials in a recent email that he is leaving to became a regional vice president at Blueprint, which also works with Denver schools, according to its website. The nonprofit's board includes Roland Fryer, the Harvard University researcher consulting with HISD on the Apollo project.

"I feel this position is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Beard wrote. "I can continue to work with schools and principals in Houston … while impacting children nationwide."

Three-year pilot term

The HISD Foundation's contract with Blueprint, formerly called the School Turnaround Collaborative, calls for monthly payments of $60,700. The initial term is for six months, with the option of annual renewals through June 2016 - for a total of six years.

"I've always said that Apollo is a three-year pilot,"Grier said, adding that district officials will have to discuss what happens as the schools improve. "I think as we prove these things out over time, you will see the program morph and change."

Beard's resignation comes as Katrise Perera, another school improvement officer who works with campuses not in the Apollo program, is leaving after a year to become a superintendent in a small district in Virginia. Perera came to HISD from a different Virginia district where HISD's chief officers over middle and high schools also used to work.

"When you hire good, talented people, you know they're going to be in demand," Grier said. "I've said that before. So you go out and hire good, talented people to take their place."

HISD launched the Apollo program at four high schools and five middle schools last year, with Grier's administration replacing all the principals and many teachers. A glossy promotional handout from HISD at the time said the nine "outstanding" principals were selected from a nationwide pool of more than 200 candidates.

Brown, the Attucks principal who previously worked as a principal at Holub Middle School in Alief, could not be reached for comment Friday.

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Eleven elementary schools will join the Apollo project in the upcoming school year.